12 dollars and 52 cents
by Supernaturalloverja
Summary: She was crying to hard to laugh. M/A


Disclaimer: I do NOT own Dark Angel

**12 dollars and 52 cents**

She probably would have laughed if she wasn't crying so hard. She would have laughed at how ironic this was. She would have busted a rib on how unfair the whole situation was, at how she hadn't lost her everything to an evil plot or in a blaze of glory, but instead to something so average. She would have laughed if she wasn't crying so hard at the fact that she lost her everything to a human, a gun, and a grand total of 12 dollars and 52 cents. They had lived through barbaric treatment, been on the run for their lives constantly, and then in the blink of an eye none of that mattered. It was all over and not for some value or belief, but for money. A pitiful sum of crumpled bills. How ironic was that?

**supernaturalloverja**

They strolled down the sidewalk together, sides pressed tightly, not letting even the frosty air come between them. Max felt secure in her position with Alec's arm twisted around her waist, radiating in his calm presence, she felt as if nothing could harm her there. She was wrong.

The night was beautiful, in a cruel kind of way. A way in which the full ivory moon cast long dark shadows across the ground below and the wind blew fallen leaves across the sky only to let them slowly drift to the floor. The kind of night that you wanted to bask in but were too afraid because you knew it had to end. The clouds would drift across that bright beacon in the sky and the leaves would find their final resting place, it was a night of endings. Max couldn't help but clutch a little tighter to Alec as she breathed in the cool air and let her eyes wander. She let them drift to the stars, sparkling reverently in way you could rarely see anymore. They reminded her of Alec's eyes, so full of life and masked by the world's pollution, that was a rare sparkle as well. A blush spread across her cheeks as she realized she had been caught staring so she looked away coyly.

"What are you staring at?" Max teased softly, twisting her fingers into his. He made no move to answer and just smiled, a genuine smile, before swiveling his head facing forward and continuing to walk. Max felt a grin slide over her features as she continued to glance up at him. She was so caught in her mind that she didn't even realize anything was wrong until his smile dropped and he stilled. They came to an abrupt halt and he moved his arm from around her waist to place it ahead of her. Confusion creased her brow before she turned forward and saw the man with the gun.

He wore a grey hoodie he practically swam in and she could tell he had never done this before by the way his hand trembled and how he kept readjusting his grip on the gun's handle do to his sweaty palm. She probably would have felt sorry for him if his gun wasn't pointed at Alec.

"Hand over your wallet." His face was hidden mostly by a black hood but his voice sounded young and shook uncertainly with every word. He definitely sounded too young to be training a gun on somebody. "Now."

His voice continued to wave pitifully as he struggled to keep his finger from twitching on the trigger. As Alec nodded slowly and reached for his back pocket all Max could do was pray. Please don't try to be a hero. Her heart skipped a beat as his hand came back with nothing more than folded leather. The boy stepped forward and grabbed for it. In the split second as the wallet changed hands and the boy's eyes moved off Alec, he went for his gun in the back of his jeans. It was fast, faster than a blur, as the boy squeezed the trigger and the bullet sprang free from the barrel.

The sight of Alec's wide, surprised eyes would always be stained in Max's brain as the bullet hit him full force in the chest. The boy shook harder, almost in as much shock as Alec, as he dropped the wallet and took off down the alley. Max caught Alec as he fell, gently lowering him to the dirty ground of the alleyway, with a surprisingly steady hold.

"No no no no no no…" Max repeated the mantra, blinking away tears as they prickled in the corners of her eyes. "Please Alec just stay with me, help is going to come any second."

"No…nobody's com…comin' Maxie." Alec stuttered softly, his breathe coming quicker and with less pull. His tense body began to slacken as blood pumped from the hole in his chest and pooled around them in the dirty alley way.

"Yes, somebody will come, you just have to hold on." Max pleaded with a desperation she never even knew she had possessed. "Please."

"I can't Maxie." His voice was losing volume but he kept his dimming green eyes plastered to her, almost in a last attempt of grasping at life.

"Yes you can. God Alec! Why did you have to be a stupid hero? Why couldn't you just let him take the wallet?" Max cried out brokenly trying to cling to any emotion other than heart break.

"You…you taught…taught me to be…a hero…all…always a hero." Alec murmured with a drunken slur on lax lips. Max stared solemnly into his glazed eyes as he tried to smile at her. Through a bloody grimace he gave her his final words, "Love you Maxie."

The words were clear and coherent, and her mask began to crumble. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she realized that no amount of begging or pleading would keep him here. "I love you too."

She pressed a soft but reverent kiss to his lax lips before pulling away. His eyes were still open as the life faded from them. Her heart shattered as she crumpled over his lifeless form before seeing the wallet. She picked it up in stumbling fingers and looked at the picture of her and Alec with held in its flap.

12 dollars and 52 cents was all it held. That is how much her entire world was worth in that moment. At least that's how much it would have been worth had he even taken the wallet. She dropped the wallet back to the grungy pavement and gazed upon Alec's still face. With a gentle touch she reached forward and slid his eyes closed before levering his body to the ground.

She was crying too hard to laugh.


End file.
